"It has been 19 months since a
permanent member of the Security Council unleashed a war of
aggression against its neighbouring country, violating the
principles of the UN Charter and international law", said
Bulgaria's president Rumen Radev, addressing the UN General
Assembly.
More than 60 countries took part in the Security Council
meeting. Zelenskyy called for an expansion of the Security
Council with permanent seats for Africa, Asia and Germany. He
then relaunched his 10-point peace plan, reiterating as a
precondition Russia's withdrawal and the re-establishment of
borders before the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
Poland opposes Germany gaining a permanent seat on the UN
Security Council, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak
said. There are 193 UN member states in total. Five countries
have permanent seats on the Security Council: the US, China,
Russia, Britain and France, who can veto all decisions.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan accused the
international community of inaction following Azerbaijan's
military operation to take control of the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, mainly inhabited by Armenians. Speaking at the United
Nations General Debate in New York on Saturday, Mirzoyan called
for a UN mission to "monitor and assess the human rights,
humanitarian and security situation on the ground".
Nagorno-Karabakh is in Azerbaijani territory, but the majority
of residents are Armenian and control of the region has long
been contested between the two ex-Soviet republics. Last
Tuesday, the authoritarian-led Azerbaijan launched a military
operation to seize the region. Only one day later, the defeated
Karabakh Armenians surrendered.
2030 SDGs moving closer
On a more positive note, several EU countries have demonstrated
their commitment to achieving the 2030 SDGs and the progress
they have made so far.
The 193 member countries of the United Nations have adopted a
declaration to reaffirm their commitment to the stalled
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The text was adopted
unanimously, the day before the start of the UN General
Assembly's General Debate, which saw speeches by leaders from
across the world.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted unanimously by
world leaders in 2015, and they serve as guidelines for more
global sustainability, equality and prosperity. The goals
include eradication of poverty and hunger, improving health and
well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water,
affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth.
Spain is diligent in the race to achieve the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals. It occupies 16th place in the classification
drawn up in the 2023 Sustainable Development Report. Despite
this, the authors of the classification warn that, for the
moment, Spain has not managed to exceed any objective, but it is
in the process of doing so, for example, in terms of gender
equality, health and well-being, green energy, and cheap and
sustainability of towns and cities.
According to the report, Croatia ranks 12th of the 166 evaluated
UN members. Croatian President Zoran Milanović said that Croatia
was making progress with regard to the green transition and that
it planned to increase the share of renewables in electricity
consumption to 73.6 percent by 2030.
The President of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, noted that
international efforts in the field of meeting Sustainable
Development Goals have been partially slowed down by crises such
as the COVID-19 pandemic, but this can't be used as an excuse.
She stated that 85 percent of electricity in Slovakia is
produced with zero emissions, and the country will use 5 percent
of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the next seven years on
decarbonising the economy and increasing the use of renewable
energy sources.
Romania has already achieved 62 percent of its national targets
for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, President Klaus Iohannis said. He mentioned that
Romania "has made significant progress on the SDGs related to
environmental protection and limiting climate change",
facilitated by strong regional partnerships and by the
involvement of multilateral institutions.
Despite this momentum, more needs to be done, as Slovenian
President Nataša Pirc Musar argued. She said it was disastrous
that the goals were being implemented so slowly. She said things
needed to be shifted up a gear if the world is to limit global
warming to 1.5 degrees, for example.
(The content of this article is based on news by agencies
participating in the enr, in this case AFP, Agerpres, ANSA, BTA,
dpa, EFE, HINA, STA, TASR)
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